How strange are yours?

There are tons of pages for what to send in a care package. I have learned over the past few years that those pages don't help me out very much.

Here is a list of some of the things I send to give a little taste of home:
Shelf stable milk- BIG HIT. I buy Borden. It's found next to evaporated milk in the stores.
Jell-O Instant cheesecake mix and shaker container
Mini graham cracker pie crusts (for cheesecake)
Fruit topping
Home canned:

• Jams
• Beef stew
• Spaghetti
• Chili
• Black eyed peas
• Collards
• Peaches
• Salsa
• Roast beef and veggies

Homemade beef jerky
YooHoo in boxes
Assorted pastas (and microwave pasta cooker)
Rice
Crackers
Jell-O
Pudding
Shelf stable margarine (like Country Crock)
Peppridge Farms Sandwich flats-sealed with food saver.
COOKIES-any and all kinds!!! And never ever enough of them.
From the store canned foods when I need a break:

• peas-the LeSueur kind, not the cheap big ones
• tuna
• Tuna helper
• Ravioli
• corned beef
• Carnation Instant Breakfast
• whatever else I see that he might like

Twin size sheets with at least 300 thread count. (They need soft things too!)

There is of course the assorted regular stuff like magazines, books, etc. Obviously this list is not for every soldier over there. Care packages should be personal and based on what each soldier's tastes and desires are.


The next big problem with my list is packaging. I cannot can homemade food in plastic containers! Therefore everything I send that is home canned is GLASS. Yep, see the problem here? I put each glass container inside of a zipper bag, then wrap it in bubble wrap. I put a trash bag in the large flat rate box and then place 6-9 jars in the box. There are gaps now that get filled with YooHoos, M&M's, rice, pasta, and whatever else will fit in the gaps. I have not kept count of the number of glass containers I have sent, it is high though and so far only one thing has got cracked and spoiled.

I use a Food Saver for everything else. For the homemade beef jerky and cookies I freeze them as soon as they cool. Then as quick as they are froze I seal them with the Food Saver. This prevents them from clumping up into a big ball and keeps them fresh for the shipping time.

Obviously this list requires that they have a microwave and refrigerator but if your soldier is lucky enough to have them some of these things can make their life taste a little better.

I am always looking for other things I can make and send to him. Packaging makes it difficult but it is fun trying to figure it all out.

How strange are your packages?